All applicants would need to submit their applications for permanent residence to the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) in Sydney, Nova Scotia. This procedure applies to all applications for permanent residence in the:

Federal Self-employed Persons Class and,

Quebec Business Class

The applications for permanent residence in the Quebec Business Class also include:

Selected Entrepreneur applications

Selected Investor applications and,

Selected Self-employed applications

This process comes into effect from May 29, 2012.

Background

The authorities have already centralised several business lines at the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) in Sydney, Nova Scotia. These include:

Federal Skilled Workers (November 2008)

Federal Immigrant Investors (July 2011)

Provincial Nominees (December 2011)

Quebec Skilled Workers (December 2011) and,

Canadian Experience Class (December 2011)

Therefore, centralising the intake of the applications for permanent residence in the following categories would enhance the process of centralisation, undertaken by the authorities, further:

Federal Self-employed Persons Class and,

Quebec Business Class

The Guidelines for New Applications

Applicants applying for permanent residence under the following classes would need to submit their complete application to the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) in Sydney, Nova Scotia:

Federal Self-employed Persons Class and,

Quebec Business Class

This is applicable for all applications made on or after May 29, 2012.

The Centralised Intake Office (CIO) would need to examine each application for completeness. Therefore, it would verify that each applications includes all the forms and documents listed in the Document Checklist. Only then would the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) consider any Federal or Quebec Business Class applications as being complete. In addition, applicants would no longer be able to submit the Simplified application package.

Situations could arise where the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) comes across some incomplete applications. In this scenario, the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) would return the entire application package to the applicant. It would also return the fee payment to the applicant.

On receiving applications, which are complete in all respects, the Centralised Intake Office (CIO) would:

Enter the application information into the Global Case Management System (GCMS) and,

Allocate the processing fee

The Centralised Intake Office (CIO) would then forward complete applications to the appropriate offices. These offices would process the applications further. They would process these applications based on:

The existing procedures and,

The processing priorities

The Process for the Applications Submitted Directly to the Visa Office

Situations could arise where the mission receives applications after May 29, 2012. In this scenario, the mission would need to return such applications to the applicants. In addition, the mission would need to inform the applicants that the applicants need to submit their applications to the appropriate Centralised Intake Office (CIO) addresses given below: